Baylor basketball transfer L.J. Rose has decided on a new destination, and it’s not San Diego State.

The 6-foot-4 freshman point guard is headed to Houston, the school confirmed in a news release Friday. Rose had scheduled a recruiting visit to SDSU for last week but backed out a few days before.

The Aztecs offered a higher level of basketball and a better conference than Houston, which finished seventh in Conference USA last season. But the Cougars had this in their favor: familiarity, proximity and – perhaps most importantly – a chance to play immediately.

Rose grew up in the Houston area, and his father, Lynden Sr., was a captain on the Cougars’ famed Phi Slama Jama teams in the mid-80s and served on the university's board of regents from 2004 to 2009. Rose's mother also is reportedly suffering from lupus, and he is expected to apply for a waiver allowing him to play next season.

It is a clause that permits players with extenuating circumstances to transfer to a school close to home and not sit out the required year. But it also has become controversial in some circles. At the Final Four last spring, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said this:

“I’ve always felt that if somebody is truly sick at home and you need to go back home to be closer to them, you should want to sit out the year and be with that person who’s sick, and then play. I don’t know why you would transfer to be back to home, then you play (immediately). Even if you’re within 10 minutes of your house, when you’re in season, you don’t have any time to get out.”

Baylor is in Waco, Texas, about 185 miles northwest of Houston.

Rose played sparingly as a freshman at Baylor, averaging 7.9 minutes while backing up first team all-Big 12 point guard Pierre Jackson. But he was a four-star prospect out of Westbury Christian High in Houston and chose Baylor over Arizona, Georgetown, Memphis and Virginia.

"He is a skilled guard who passes the ball extremely well, can score and is a very unselfish player with great leadership qualities," Houston coach James Dickey said. "L.J. has great familiarity with our program and our players, and we look forward to having him as a part of our team."

With Rose headed elsewhere, that returns SDSU’s focus to the 2014 prep class. The Aztecs have been linked to Jordan McLaughlin, a 6-0 point from Etiwanda High in Rancho Cucamonga who is rated the nation’s No. 18 prospect by ESPN. McLaughlin recently trimmed his list to eight: SDSU, USC, UCLA, UNLV, Gonzaga, Indiana, Connecticut and Kansas.

That could set up a recruiting showdown between SDSU and former assistant coach coordinator Tony Bland, who left for USC in April and has been chasing McLaughlin hard.

Xavier Thames will be a senior in 2013-14 and junior LaBradford Franklin is transferring, which leaves incoming freshman D’Erryl Williams as the only true point guard on scholarship for 2014-15 – although Winston Shepard and JJ O’Brien both spent time there last season.

The Aztecs have two remaining scholarships available for next season, then two more for 2014-15 with Thames and Josh Davis as departing seniors.